What part does the cerebellum play in learning a new skill? · Grey Matter

The cerebellum learns the fine calibration of a movement: the force, timing and trajectory that make it land where intended.

What part does the cerebellum play in learning a new skill?

The cerebellum learns the fine calibration of a movement: the force, timing and trajectory that make it land where intended. Each error is reported to its Purkinje cells by climbing fibres from the inferior olive, and those signals adjust the synapses that produced the error, so the internal model of the arm, the tool or the instrument improves with practice. The basal ganglia learn which actions to chain and repeat, and the cerebellum how to execute each one smoothly, which is why cerebellar damage makes adapting to new conditions (prism glasses, a heavier racket) particularly hard.